Looking for collecting advice.

[Gallivantist]

I fell in love with Tyranids way back in the early 2000s; they were the first miniature wargame models I had ever seen. It wasn't until many years later that I learned what they were, and I started collecting them just as 4th edition was coming out. My problem was, though, that as I delved deeper into Warhammer 40k, I found that I really liked just about ALL the armies, so what should have been a substantial Tyranid army over the course of a few years turned into five mediocre forces of Tyranids, Necrons, Chaos Space Marines, Black Templars, and a few Eldar models. Eventually I moved, and my passion for Warhammer was left with the friends I used to game with.

Back then, my collecting was a total money pit. Now, there's not a single model or set (excepting spore mines) that costs less than $20, so I know it'd just become another money pit because I'm just so enthralled with the models. Tyranids are my army of choice; the vision of fielding hundreds of gaunts where other armies can field maybe thirty or forty figures makes me just giddy. My concern is, however, is it worth it? So yes, Demonic, I'm looking for opinions on the cost. If the price was lower, I'd have no inhibitions. It's not, however, and I'd like to put my mind at rest before I go and get involved in the hobby again.

[Davor]

All depends on what you want? Do you paint? Do you collect? Do you game? Do you play for fun or do you need to win? Tyranids are hard to win with. There are easier armies out there. Tyranids have rules that hose them for no reason what's so ever. Fluff doesn't count when it doesn't apply to other races.

I love the new minis. I haven't played a game of 6th editon, so can't say how the play right now. But I love collecting them. I am sick of painting gaunts so I have stopped painting, but not collecting. I love the fluff of Nids. Even in the 5th edition codex I love the fluff, while others think it's an abomination.

You can play a horde army, or a MC army. You can play a shooty army or an assaulty army. Assualty armies to a very big kick to the balls in 6th edition though. It's made for shooty armies.

While alot of people (please do not swear) on Nids, all I can say, is I love the minis. I love the fluff. I even have fun with them, even though I lose alot in 5th. It seems 6th editon made Nids more playable and winable now, so that shouldn't be much of an issue as it was in 5th.

So any specific questions you have? That is why I love Nids and I say is a good reason to start them.

Tyranid is not a powerhouse like other armies, like Grey Knights or Space Wolves or Blood Angles and Necrons. Tyranids are a very SYNERGITIC army, meaning everything almost has to come to cohesion for you to win. It's not an easy army to master, but can be lots of fun or very frustrating depending on the player.

Hope this helps.

[demoric]

Are you wanting opinions on the cost of the hobby or if Tyranids are the army for you?

To be honest the cost is still pretty expensive, but it can be broke down into smaller purchases or you can subsidize your purchase price with second hand models if your disposible income is limited. If it is a question of army type then please post some of the things you're looking for.

[Gallivantist]

Original post edited for clarity.

[grimgore]

As far as money goes, if you bought all your 'Nids from GW then it will be a huge money pit. You can find smaller bugs on eBay for a good price. For example I found an auction of 25 'Gants for $20 before shipping. You can even get already painted figs and strip the paint off and repaint them, with a little work (hunting and waiting) you can a good size force that won't break your wallet. Discount sellers are good for the bigger bugs. I have started using Warriors to convert into my Hive Guard, Tyrant Guard, Zoanthropes, and now Lictors that I've found a few pictures of that conversion.

Hope this helps.

[innocent]

This is still slightly vague, however I'll do my best to give advice.

It seems to me you like collecting but also building a functional playable army. What I get from your new post is that you like Horde Nids. On the plus side, this is a probably the most competitive Nid build, so you will keep the frustration to a minimum when playing them. On the downside it's a pretty expensive build $ wise. You will want to get a couple of Tervigons and a decent amount of Termagants, and might be looking at some of the new models like Hive Guards. I don't know what models you own but chances are you will have to buy more/most of them (something that has irked the Nid community when the 5th ed codex came out, is that they pretty much made all the old units unplayable, meaning everyone had to buy the new shiny stuff).

Something else to consider is when the various armies you have will get a new codex. Nids have had a new codex in 2010, and chances are we won't get an update for a good 2 years, maybe more. Eldar and Chaos 6th edition codices are imminent, and they will no doubt make these factions more playable, if not OP, and bring in new models. Necrons are the latest codex, and they ARE OP... BT have got the short end of the stick right now, and no idea when/if they'll get updated.

My advice is to play a couple of games with the various armies you have and see what feels best, taking into account that Eldar and Chaos will probably play very differently in a month or 2. If you can wait for these, I would.

Also, in 6th edition you can use allies. This doesn't help Nids as we are not allowed to ally with anyone, but you might be able to combine your other factions together to form bigger armies. Something else to consider. A quick search showed me that Eldar cannot ally Chaos or Necrons, BTs fine. BTs can't ally Chaos (thank god...) but are fine with Necrons. So you can have Eldar + BT, or Necrons + BT, or Chaos + Necrons.

Hope this helps.

[infornography]

I'd say my assessment depends largely on whether you have a large amount of disposable income and whether you have another hobby eating at it.

If you enjoy assembly, painting, list building, and playing then it is probably more worth it than if you just enjoy assembly and list building for instance.

Also you need some patience. I have found Tyranids to be a very effective army but you need to pour over all the information available, carefully consider all the presented strategies and develop one that incorporates many of those ideals to work best for you. It will probably take quite a few lost games and trial and error to get your stride. This could result in a lot of the models you bought early on being nearly useless to you later.

I personally find that having an army that crawls up the board with a couple of tervigons and a swarmlord and then brings in from reserve several things that disrupt my opponent's back lines on turn 2. Usually Ymgarls, a flyrant, and a Trygon for me. This has won me lots of games. A lot of others will use a bunker strategy where they mob all their units together to make optimal use of synergistic auras. Others will swarm the board with hormagaunts and gargoyles.

If you don't have a lot of disposable income though, totally not worth it. This game is absurdly expensive and easily my most expensive hobby. To the point where I am planning a renovation to my house just to make room for it.

[Davor]

Money wise eh? Strictly buying brand new from GW (no discount places or ebay) and going from memory, A Tervigon is what about $70 Canadian. So about $140 for to HQ units. Even if you go Hive Tyrant route, it's still about about $70-$140 bucks.

So you will need to get a Battleforce box set. Maybe 2. So there is another $130-$260 bucks. Yes you may not need Hormies, or Stealers, but they can always, ALWAYS be used as "counts as" for other units. You will have Warriors as well. If you don't want Warriors, you will have at least a Tyranid Prime for a cheaper HQ unit and the 2 other Warriors can be converted to Tyrant Guard or Hive Guard.

So from a small army we are at about $400 if going the 2X of everything. That will get a nice big sized Swarmy Army.

So it will not be cheap. You can always start with one battleforce box set, so that is $130. A Tervigon wich will start you with $200. That is without taxes of course.

[demoric]

My Hive Fleet is 75% 2nd hand purchases / trades. Of the remaining 25% they are new models, and conversions using excess bits, and a few bits purchases to create some extra units. There are a bunch of tutorials for making various units. This has helped me keep the cost down tremendously while giving my hive fleet some visual character. My advice is to spread your purchases out some. Start with a small 750 army and then add to it over time. This gives you a chance to paint your models and to either save your money for your next purchase or to keep an eye out for good trades / auctions of things you would want or can convert.

[Gallivantist]

Thanks, all. Very good advice. I look forward to my tyranidding.

[jahatch42878]

I have to agree with everyone here, but also have to ask:

what size games are you looking for?

my buddy and I played 2nd and 3rd edition 40K and haven't played in 10-12 years... we just got back in with 6th edition, but neither of us want to turn this into a money pit or an obsession, we just like painting and playing even if we don't win and don't have competition level armies...

we also set the goal of keeping games small.. 500, 600, or maybe 750 pts... we are not looking to play 2000 pt games that last all night... so, for me anyway, that means probably no hive tyrant (winged hive tyrants is a minimum of 230 pts, more like 250 with some weapon upgrades, and I'm not looking to put 1/2 my army into one model right now.. maybe eventually as a joke, but I don't think it fits the fluff.... i also don't expect to see Magnus Calgar or a landraider on my opponents side of the table in 500 pt games either)...

so, if you just want to paint up a few tyranid warriors, genestealers, gants, gaunts, gargoyles, and maybe a trygon, mawloc, or even a tervigon then you can easily budget yourself...

also, as I know has been mentioned, if you can use magnets to be able to do easy weapon swaps, you can have a very flexible collection of models relatively cheaply... melee tyrant, ranged tyrant, melee combinations of warriors vs all heavy weapon load-outs... so if you are looking to save money, buy magnets and proper sized drill bits and you can make it work...

if you want a 2000 pt swarm army and want to be competitive in tournaments, then this is probably not a good option as far as costs go... also, you don't actually mention a budget, but are you someone who can buy one or two small things at a time and go from there or if you start playing are you going to buy $500 worth of 'nids at one time and spend 3 weeks just trying to assemble them all.. =p... some people have less restraint than others...

and finally, as others said, what are your friends playing? can you borrow, test-drive their armies? do they mind if you jerry-rig or use stand ins? do they play 3 day long Apocalypse games with 4000 pts per side or do they play small escalating campaigns with 300-750 pts per side using a lot of scenario rules and special built terrain?... you can have months of fun with just a small amount of models if you enjoy more necromunda scale battles whereas you aren't going to be able to build a 2000 pt swarm/horde army for only $100 every 6 months unless you are already getting ready for 7th edition.. =p Josh

[Gallivantist]

Unfortunately, I do not yet have a group of people to play 40K with, but I don't have a preference as to the size of games. I figure that once I have a playable army, the size of the games I prefer will increase as my army grows.

[TheContortionist]

sell your other armies and buy gants and tervigons

[lictor534]

I was/am in somewhat of a similar circumstance. I had a decent amount of black templars/tyranids/eldar and some random others like chaos and DE. Completely unfocused when I stopped collecting back in jeez uh 1998ish? Lots of 2nd and 3rd edition stuff. I got back into the hobby portion of it recently and have not had money to work with. So I trade, this site, physical trades and barter town i've found to be a great asset when trying to become more focused with an army.

I now have a ton of models for nids, all of which are assembled and primed and ready to be painted...ugh... not that I don't like painting I just find it very hard to get going with it and very slow when i do actually set time aside to do it. I've only spent about $25 on shipping and gained well over $400 of models for the army I want to collect and eventually play. In any case definitely look into it, it will benefit you .

The only downside really has been getting specific models, i've got a great amount of bulk, lots of gaunts/genestealers/carnifex's etc but the "popular for this edition" stuff i've yet to really come across a lot of that aren't whole army deals. Like tervigons and trygons and mainly the new stuff.